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Saturday, October 12, 2013

BrickCon 2013: Thoughts

My wife and I decided that we'd attend BrickCon this year -- it's been one convention that has been running a long time, that we have not attended yet. From what I understand, next year will be it's 13th years. We have heard from friends that it's one of the nicest cons to go to, but honestly, each con we've been to has it's own different flavor, and I really think it depends on what you like in a con (ie. size, quality/quantity of MOCs, venue, city traffic, local food, etc.). Each having it's own pros and cons... to make a really bad pun.

We didn't bring a MOC with us; we were planning to take in a little bit of the sites/city since we've never been to Seattle before. We also wanted to enjoy a con without the hassle of trying to ship a MOC across country. And we also wanted to get to know some new people and make new friends. All of which we got an opportunity to do.

The creations themselves were impressive, although I've seen a few of them on-line before. And from what I overheard, a few had been at BrickCon in years past -- no matter, we hadn't seen them in person before & they're still impressive. My favorite was Rivendell and the castle area; which was front stage as you walked in & rightly so. Being a castle guy, it made me proud. The only problem with the area, it was hard to find time to look at the details of Rivendell, because there were constantly film crews hovering around it -- before and after the public. Here's my quick video... It looks a little strange... I don't know if it's video from the iPhone or if YouTube processed it funkily:

What I found surprising/interesting about the con, was the lack of large 9v train displays. Rivendell has as much details in it as a large 9v train display would have in the Mid-West, the difference is, large train displays are the product of a LUG with many members, Rivendell from what I understand was a creation by 2 people.

All-in-all, I've enjoyed the con and really enjoyed the keynote speakers. I'm hoping a video will be posted of both speakers soon. I've been waiting for fan reaction to the changes LEGO has implemented this year -- to which I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more public outrage at cons -- but Hillel Cooperman did a wonderful job of summing up my feelings... a little bit to Kevin Hinkle's dismay.